Thursday, September 8, 2016

Review: KEEP HER by Leora Krygier

Destiny doesn’t factor into seventeen-year-old adoptee Maddie’s rational world, where numbers and scientific probability have always proven to be the only things she can count on as safe and reliable. Still, Maddie is also an artist who draws on instinct and intuition to create the collages she makes from photographs and the castoff scraps she saves. But when her brother falls in with a Los Angeles street gang, Maddie loses her ability to create art.

Then fate deals Maddie a card she can’t ignore: Aiden, a young filmmaker she meets when a water main bursts inside a camera store. Aiden is haunted by the death of his younger brother, and a life-changing decision he must now make―whether or not to keep his baby daughter. Caught in a whirlpool of love and loss, Maddie and Aiden find that art and numbers, a mission to save endangered whales, and a worn-out copy of Moby Dick all collide to heal and save them both.

My Thoughts

My immediate reaction upon seeing the cover: Ahh -it's about mermaids! I love mermaids, I want to be a mermaid! I must read this book.

Then after reading the abbreviated synopsis - Wait, it's about whales and Moby Dick. I read Moby Dick. Twice. Hmm, I wonder how Moby Dick can be relevant to this story. Sure I'll read it.

Then I started reading it and thought there is no way Moby Dick is related to this book. And then it is, the pieces start falling into place.

But wait, is there going to be a mermaid in the story?

KEEPING HER is a gorgeously written story about fate, falling in love, and finding your way.

The full synopsis has what I would consider spoilers and I'm glad that I didn't know Aiden's "secret" going in, because I'm sure I wouldn't have had the same response when I found out what he was keeping from Maddie. KEEPING HER pulled at my heart strings with all of the emotions that Maddie was feeling about her family, especially her relationship with her brother. And the weight of the decision Aiden would soon have to make, while he had a lot of regret and sadness over the death of his brother was immensely overwhelming.

I was swept up in the emotion of it all. I loved the letters and how they connected Aiden to his brother. The letters were also the connection to Moby Dick. As he shared his stories of training on the ship and the attempts to protect the whales, it reminded me of reading the very detailed and dense Moby Dick.

One of my favorite quotes:

"To do something right, you have to be okay with failing." - Aiden (pg. 145)

And then the moment when my heart broke as Aiden breaks Maddie's:

"But we're not the mistake." - Maddie (pg. 205)

Even though there aren't any mermaids in KEEP HER, it is a book well worth reading.

AND after I finished reading it, I found out that there is a lot of bonus material to compliment the book - maps, art, letters, and photographs! What a treat!

Disclaimer: I received this ARC from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. I was not compensated in any way other than the ARC provided. Thoughts and opinions are my own.